Modeling of Heat and Mass Transfer within An Evaporating Cerium Nitrate Solution Droplet in a Radio Frequency Inductively Coupled Plasma

A mathematical model is developed to study heat and mass transfer within a cerium nitrate solution droplet injected into a radio frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma. The time-dependent equations governing the conservation of mass, momentum and energy along with the vector potential form of Maxwell’s equations are solved to predict the temperature and velocity fields of a RF plasma. Cerium nitrate solution droplets are axially injected into the plasma. The droplet model involves the motion and evaporation of the droplet and the heat and mass transfer within the droplet. The variable thermo-physical properties of the plasma around the droplet are considered. The trajectory, temporal surface temperature and radius variation of droplets are predicted. The temperature and concentration distribution inside the droplets of different initial diameters, solute concentrations and injection velocities are presented.